US Air Force veteran tried to join ISIS in Syria but was turned back by Turkish authorities before he could get to the war-torn country, US authorities allege in a two-count indictment announced Tuesday.

French lawmakers voted overwhelmingly today in favour of a law allowing medics to place terminally ill patients into a deep sleep until they die. 

Russia plans to station state-of-the art missiles in its westernmost Baltic exclave and deploy nuclear-capable bombers to Crimea as part of massive war games to showcase its resurgent military power amid bitter tensions with the West over Ukraine. 

UN investigators for human rights violations in Syria today offered to share "some information" from secret lists of alleged war criminals with prosecutors to aid investigations and help bring perpetrators to justice. 

 Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore today met several members of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), a day after leading film personalities had apprised him of their problems regarding the certification process. 

Much has been written about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fashion savvy: US President Barack Obama even commented on it during his visit to India, suggesting that the Indian prime minister out-styled the First Lady Michelle Obama. 

The lawyer of the doctor who helped US forces track down Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in a fake polio vaccination drive was shot dead by unknown armed men, police said. 

This is truly absurd! A Frenchman tried to smuggle his Russian wife into the European Union by hiding her in a massive suitcase. Poland's border guards detained the man, whom authorities said was in his 60s, at the railway station in Terespol, an eastern town on the border with Belarus.

India and Pakistan are set to resume bilateral cricketing ties in December this year, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said. "Pakistan and Indian cricket teams, would be playing a bilateral series in December this year. We are working very hard on that, it will be happening after a long gap," Basit added. 

Forget about Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, the real fight of the century is scheduled for May 15 when Mitt Romney enters the ring to battle Evander Holyfield in Salt Lake City. 

A couple was allegedly beaten up by a group of six men in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. They were stopped by a group of six men and thrashed while they were on their way back from school. 

When David Cameron was interviewed on one of the most popular morning television shows just weeks before the election, he might have expected a fierce interrogation about his future policy plans. 

True to his aam aadmi credentials, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has asked Public Works Department to remove all air conditioners from the 6 Flagstaff Road residence in north Delhi's Civil Lines area where he will be shifting soon.

India and China will hold a fresh round of border talks in Delhi next week where the two sides are expected to focus on clarification of the Line of Actual Control, amid hopes to clinch a solution under the strong leadership in both the countries.

ISIS militants attacked a Libyan hospital and kidnapped 20 medical workers, a hospital official said -- the latest example of the Islamist extremist group's reach into North Africa.

Delhi High Court today agreed to hear tomorrow a plea seeking to place before it a copy of the controversial documentary on the December 16 gang rape case.

Delhi High Court today agreed to hear tomorrow a plea seeking to place before it a copy of the controversial documentary on the December 16 gang rape case.

BJP MP Hema Malini today demanded an apology from JD(U) President Sharad Yadav for his "derogatory" remarks on women. "Sharad Yadav is a senior leader and derogatory remarks about women are not expected from him. He must apologise to women," she said.

A Pakistani court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of the government's plea for cancellation of bail to Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind, till March 26 as his counsel did not turn up.

"The Islamabad High Court today adjourned the hearing till March 26 as Lakhvi's counsel did not turn up. His counsel filed an application in the court, saying he was not well,' a prosecution official said after the hearing on Tuesday.

He added that Lakhvi was adopting 'delaying tactics' in the case. "Lakhvi is buying more time in the bail cancellation case, in order to get relief in his detention case,' he said.

So there's Digvijaya Singh, MS Aiyar, Shashi Tharoor, Kamal Nath, D Raja, Jairam Ramesh, Sitraram Yechury, Kanimozhi, Jaya Bachchan, Supriya Sule at the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt. Leaders across party lines chat with each other.

The BJD, AIADMK, BSP did not participate in the march.

Opposition leaders take memorandum to the President against the land ordinance bill.

TMC's Derek O'Brien tweets: "What a procession to R Bhavan ...something to tell the grandchildren about. Decades from now."

Before this slips us by, share your excitement with Rediff.com as South Africa takes on Sri Lanka in the World Cup tomorrow. Watch the Rediff Cricket show, Live, right here after each innings.

Opposition leaders begin their march from Parliament house to Rashtrapati Bhavan via Vijay Chowk and Raisina Hill. There's massive police presence and after first refusing permission, the Delhi police then granted permission.

D Raja seen behind Sonia Gandhi. Ghulam Nabi Azad tries his best to clear the way. It's approximately a 2.2 km walk from the Parliament to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Leaders from opposition parties gather at Parliament to begin protest march against land bill. Sonia Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sharad Yadav in the forefront.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will lead a united Opposition march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan today to protest against the government's land acquisition ordinance.

Her decision to up the ante on the legislation virtually rules out any chance of reconciliation between the government and the Opposition with regard to the contentious bill.

Along with the Congress, the CPI(M), Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, JD(U) will participate in the march. The march is being coordinated by JD-U President Sharad Yadav.

Meanwhile, a harried, but smiling Mani Shankar Aiyar smiles at the cameras as opposition leaders gather at the Gandhi statue near Parliament house.

Refusing to concede the Opposition demand for a CBI probe, Karnataka Government today announced a CID inquiry into the death of an upright IAS officer who allegedly committed suicide under mysterious circumstances, as the issue rocked the state Assembly.

Not satisfied with Chief Minister Siddaramiah's reply, opposition BJP and JDS members stormed into the well of the House and staged a dharna, raising slogans against the government for "failing" to protect honest officials.

As the Opposition raised the issue, Siddaramiah said as per police account it is prima facie a case of suicide, but the government will investigate it impartially to unravel the mystery behind the officer's death.

"Is it a suicide or a murder or has he died of some other reasons, we also want to know the truth. People should also know it," Siddaramaiah said, asserting that the city police were also efficient.

A rap video against rape by two Mumbai women has gone viral on social media. The video titled 'Bombbaebs' #Rap Against Rape' by Uppekha Jain and Pankhuri Awasthi talks about the issues that women face in India.

The video posted on YouTube has already got over 25000 views and is a trending topic on Twitter.

While some have applauded the video, some have criticsed it saying that women are just trying to be 'YouTube celebrity with their foreign accent.

As the 12th Jammu and Kashmir Assembly assembled today, BJP MLA Ravinder Raina triggered a controversy when he took the name of Mata Vaishno Devi while taking oath as MLA in the name of God, drawing objections from the opposition.

Raina, who is an MLA from Noushera Assembly segment and head of state BJP youth wing, came upto the Speaker's chair and took oath in the name of Mata Vaishnodevi and said "I do swear in the name of Mata Vaishnodevi".

CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami objected to him first and said there is a prescribed format for taking oath in the name of God (Ishwar).

"It was not provided to swear in the name of Vaishnodevi. The member can swear in the name of Ishwar," Tarigami said. Others from opposition, including National Conference and Congress, supported Tarigami over objection.

However, Protem Speaker Mohmmad Shafi intervened asking Raina to take oath in the name of God. Raina tried to convince opposition members and said "I am a worshipper of Ma Vaishnodevi and consider her as my Ishwar".

He told the House that some people take oath in the names of Jesus and Allah, why can't he take the oath in the name of Mata Vaishnodevi. "If I am doing that it will be true respect to my Ishwar," he added. His statement drew clappings from the people sitting in the visitors gallery on the stand of Raina, raising objection from opposition NC benches.

They said that it is not the meeting of a political party and the member needs to advise his supporters to take the proceedings of the house seriously. Later, after the intervention of the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, Raina took oath in Hindi in the name of Ishwar.

'Amit Shah was, briefly, a stockbroker before devoting himself to politics. By instinct or training, he knows the value of keeping blue chips in one's portfolio,' says T V R Shenoy.

In a rare speech in Parliament today, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said the government is guilty of "apathy" in initiatives to deliver basic facilities to the people of Andhra Pradesh, which was bifurcated in June last year with the region of Telangana being carved out as India's youngest state.

"Nine months have gone by and they (people of Andhra Pradesh) are beginning to feel they have been taken for granted," Sonia said, adding, she has written to the Prime Minister twice "requesting him to speed up implementation of commitments" that were made through the Act that endorsed the division of the state. -- NDTV

As a category B inmate in the Adiala Jail in Pakistan, notorious for housing terrorists and high profile criminals among its 4,500 inmates, supermodel Ayyan enjoys the selective privileges that celebdom affords. Read

More than 1.4 million students across Bihar sat for the class 10 examinations conducted by the state government that began today.

The CBSE has only 13.73 lakh examinees appearing across the country and Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has more than that in the state alone.

"About 14.26 lakh students started their Class 10 exams at 1,217 examination centres across the state.The number of boys and girls appearing for the examination is around 7.7 lakh and 6.5 lakh," Lalkeshwar Prasad,chairman of the BSEB, which conducts the examinations, said.

The BSEB has made elaborate arrangements for peaceful and fair exams that conclude March 24.BSEB has taken extensive measures to curb cheating for which the state has been quite notorious in the past, another official of the board said.

"The examinations are being conducted with unprecedented measures in place to curb cheating," he added.

Rediff.com/MI Khan, Patna.

Reason to cheer, folks.

There has been a 30 per cent rise in the population of tigers in the country and their current count stands at 2,226, the Lok Sabha was informed. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar informed the House that 22 poachers were also killed last year in encounters with enforcement agencies.

"There are 2,226 tigers today. In the last four years, there has been an increase of 30 per cent in their population," he said during Question Hour. Terming poaching as a "big problem", he said this has to be stopped and the government has taken various pro-active measures in this regard.

Elaborating the economics behind poaching, he said a single-horn rhino can fetch upto Rs 1 crore.

Responding to a supplementary, Javadekar said the government wants to make law on poaching and wildlife more stringent and was bringing a comprehensive amendment to it.

Giving figures, the Minister said in 2012, deaths of 89 tigers were reported but the figure went down to 68 in 2013. The numbers witnessed a jump in 2014 when 78 deaths were reported and 17 tigers have died so far this year, he said.

India's growth next year expected to be over 8 per cent, says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Lok Sabha. The FM also said the country's interest rate has to be modest or the economy would suffer.

The magic figure hasn't been picked out of a hat, but is in fact, what the Economic Survey released just a day ahead of the union budget on February 28, said. The ES said growth would be between 8.1 and 8.5 percent in the 2015/16 financial year, returning to levels last seen in 2010/11.

Haryana Police today arrested the main accused in the vandalisation of an under-construction church in a village in Hisar district. "The main accused Anil Godara has been arrested from Hisar today," Hisar SP Saurabh Singh said.

He said that the accused will be produced before a court and police would seek his remand.

"Further investigations in the case are under progress and search is on for remaining accused," he added. An under-construction church in Kaimri village near Hisar was vandalised by a group and the cross replaced with an idol of Hanuman on Sunday, triggering tension in the area.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia arrives at Karkardooma Court in Delhi. AAP leader Yogendra Yadav also appears before the court in the case.

Mortal remains of late IAS officer DK Ravi, brought to his residence in Bangalore, supporters pay homage. 

The condition of Singapore's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who has been in hospital with severe pneumonia since February 5, has worsened due to infection, the government said today.

"Mr Lee Kuan Yew's condition has worsened due to an infection. He is on antibiotics. The doctors are closely monitoring his condition," said a statement.

Lee, 91, has been hospitalised for severe pneumonia since February 5 at the Singapore General Hospital, where he is on life support at the intensive care unit.

In a February 28 statement, the Prime Minister's Office said: "He remains sedated and on mechanical ventilation in the ICU at Singapore General Hospital. He is continuing with his antibiotics." Lee was the first Prime Minister of independent Singapore and led the government for three decades till 1990. The founding father of modern Singapore, Lee is widely credited with the city-state's economic success.

On the first day of the J-K Assembly, former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweets as he took his place in the opposition benches. "Today was spent figuring out who is who in the assembly & who they beat to get there. Lots of new faces on both sides of the aisle. It's an honour to formally take over as MLA for my constituency. I look forward to performing that role to the best of my abilities."

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal replies to party senior leader Prashant Bhushan through a text message, and says "we will meet soon".

Yesterday, Bhushan had texted Kejriwal hoping he was well and had suggested a meeting. "I want to meet Arvind and end the controversy; will want to talk to him one-on-one when he reaches Delhi," he said.

Kejriwal was in Bengaluru on a 10-day break and returned to Delhi last evening. He was treated for diabetes and acute cough at a health farm.

Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, both top AAP leaders, were removed from the Political Affairs Committee or PAC of the Aam Aadmi Party earlier this month by Kejriwal's supporters at a meeting that the AAP chief did not attend.

Pakistan today executed 12 prisoners convicted under militancy and murders charges, the highest number of hangings in a single day after the government lifted the six-year-long moratorium on capital punishment.

They were hanged in jails of Jhang, Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Mianwali, Faisalabad and Guranwala, officials here said.

The latest executions brings to 39 the number of convicts hanged since Pakistan resumed executions on December 17 after a Taliban attack on an army school in Peshawar that killed more than 150 people, mostly children.

There are more than 8,000 death row prisoners in the country. Initially executions were limited to terrorism offences but on March 10 government decided to all capital offences. The moratorium on executions had been in place since a democratic government took power from a military ruler in 2008.

CPI(M) today alleged that AIADMK had supported NDA's 'anti-farmer' Land Acquisition Act in the Lok Sabha "expecting a return favour." "The AIADMK high command had taken such a stand (supporting the Act) expecting a return favour," CPI(M) state unit Secretary G Ramakrishnan said here.

However, he declined to elaborate when asked what the 'return favour' meant, saying it was upto the journalists to make it out. Ramakrishnan was responding to a query on AIADMK supporting the controversial Bill in the Lok Sabha and its chief J Jayalalithaa explaining in detail why her party had backed it.

Just in: Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Irfan has been ruled out of the World Cup with a stress fracture of the pelvis. Pakistan's team management will call for a replacement only if the team wins Friday's quarter-final, against Australia in Adelaide.

who says the only foot in mouth artistes are in the ruling party in India?

A British minister has said that too many babies are being born to immigrant mothers in the UK.

In controversial remarks, Lord Bates said that a quarter of children born in the UK each year now had a mother who was herself from overseas.He added: 'That is why we need to reduce immigration'. Read

Rajya Sabha was today adjourned briefly after Congress members created uproar over BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's reported remarks on demolishing mosques.

Soon after three-newly elected members took oath, Pramod Tewari (Cong) raised the issue saying securalism is the foundation of Indian democracy and charged Swamy of subverting it by his recent remarks in Assam. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said Tewari has given a Zero Hour notice which has been allowed and he can raise the issue then through such a mention.

But the Congress members were not satisfied and moved into aisle shouting slogans against the BJP-led government. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the issue can be raised during Zero Hour.

Kurien asked members to go back to their places and not raise slogans. "You can raise it in zero hour. Chairman has already allowed it. Please go back to your seats, I am requesting," he told the Congress members who remained unrelenting.

In India's new expressive humanism, in the form of the green corridor for heart transplants, there are no caste, community, or gender biases. None of India's prejudices can be seen in this act of giving life to total strangers. How different it is from the politics of today where the other is regarded as a hostile other. Read

And while on the media, a former Zee News employee finds herself locked in a protracted legal tussle with the company after she was fired in August, 2012. She alleges, she was fired after she informed the company that she was pregnant. The case assumes greater significance since it is the first of its kind in the history of Indian media and, thus, will set the precedent for both print and broadcast media.

More power to her, we say. Read

Kasturi & Sons Ltd., publishers of The Hindu, have announced a voluntary retirement scheme for their employees, for the first time in the company's 136-year history, reports The Hoot.

Their statement said it was  part of  an ongoing organisation-wide restructuring focused on turning around the performance of the company: "Employees opting to apply to the scheme will receive a generous compensation package -- possibly the most generous of recently announced schemes in industry -- in addition to normal retirement benefits."

And in Kolar (Karnataka), a shutdown following the death of senior IAS officer D K Ravi. The IAS officer had been hailed as a hero by people in Kolar for his work in the region and was involved in several stand-offs with local politicians and even the superintendent of police for taking on the sand mafia.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner M N Reddi says of IAS officer D K Ravi who was found hanging from the ceiling fan yesterday, that it was a case of suicide.

"He was a very bold officer and its natural for people to think he couldn't commit suicide. However forensically, medically and from examination of the location where the incident took place, all hint at suicide. Investigation is on; no one needs to jump to any conclusion. No single angle will be left untouched." Reddi said.

Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Enforcement) D K Ravi who had made a mark in the administration for being upright was found dead at his official flat with police suspecting it to be a case of suicide.

Inclusion of politically organised castes like Jat in OBC list is not good for other backward classes, says SC and finds fault with the Centre's decision to overlook the findings of an OBC panel that Jat is not a backward class.

Intelligence agencies have demanded a "blanket exemption" from the ambit of the Right to Privacy Bill, 2014, the legislation under the anvil after the Niira Radia episode. The proposed law will impose heavy costs and punishment for intrusion into a citizen's privacy or leakage of personal details. Read more

The Supreme Court quashes the Centre's decision to give reservation to Jats under Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. The SC said that "backwardness should be social and not economic or educational. Caste, though a prominent factor, can't be the sole factor to decide backwardness. Possible wrong inclusion of a caste in the OBC list in the past cannot be the basis of further wrong inclusions."

The verdict comes a year after the UPA government's decision to  include Jats under OBC.  Read the background here.

The Pakistan Football Federation said today that the second leg of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match between Pakistan and Yemen in Lahore tomorrow has been called off. 

Police say they suspect a group of Fulani herdsmen shot and killed 45 people in the latest clash between mainly Muslim herders and predominantly Christian farmers in central Nigeria. 

Authorities say a 4.6-magnitude earthquake has shaken eastern Romania, and was felt in the capital. 

As the US and several Eastern European NATO countries conduct a series of military exercises near Russia's border, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his Northern Fleet "to full alert in a snap combat readiness exercise" in the Arctic, state-run media reported Monday.